Svalbard
To mark the 10th anniversary of its opening, the Svalbard Seed Vault will be holding an open house of sorts. Representatives from 20 seed banks from the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia will be on hand to deliver new deposits to a collection the Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN food agency reckons may include 40% of the all the world’s seed varieties.
In addition to the ceremonial deposit, the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which operates the vault, will hold a day-long summit about seed conservation.
Seeds aren’t the only thing that the guests will leave behind: the Norwegian government announced last week it that it would foot the bill for a 100 million kroner ($12.7 million) upgrade to the facility. On the to-do list is a new entrance tunnel and technical installations that can prevent a repeat of the flooding seen last year and keep the world’s seeds frozen, not thawed.
For more information
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Further reading
‘Doomsday’ seed vault entrance repaired after thaw of Arctic ice
arctictoday.com/doomsday-seed-vault-entrance-repaired-after-thaw-of-arctic-ice/